Toy

ABSTRACT

A toy that includes at least one component that has a central part and a peripheral part that surrounds the central part and has a small thickness in comparison with the central part. The parts comprise a separate central part and a separate peripheral part that embraces the separate central part and is connected thereto. The separate peripheral part is comprised of a material which is tougher than the material from which the central part is made.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a toy or plaything that includes atleast one component which has a central part and a peripheral part whichsurrounds said central part and which has a small thickness incomparison with the thickness of said central part.

2. Description of the Related Art

Toys or playthings of this kind, for instance in the form of a bell thatincludes an integrated skirt-like part of comparatively small wallthickness, are known to the art. Two or more such bells may be includedas components in a toy for babies or infants, where each of the bells isconnected to a bite-friendly ring for instance by means of a band toform a rattle or a so-called roof in the form, e.g., of a disc whosethickness decreases towards the disc periphery and from which the bellshang when the disc is, in turn, hung from a cord or line stretchedbetween the sides of the hood of a baby carriage, or perambulator, orfrom the sides of a cot. Toys and playthings of this kind areadvantageous, inter alia, for training the vision and gripping abilityof babies, or infants, and are very popular both with parents of babiesand older people, especially when the toys are made of wood. However,certain load tests carried out on such toys and playthings have shownthat they could break into pieces that are small enough to be swallowedby a baby, therewith causing injury to the child or causing the child tochoke.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of the present invention is to provide novel and improvedtoys of the aforesaid kind with which the abovementioned problems areavoided.

To this end, it is proposed in accordance with the invention that theaforementioned parts of a toy or plaything of the kind defined in theintroduction include a separate central part and a separate peripheralpart which surrounds the central part and is connected thereto and whichis comprised of a tougher material than the separate central part. Thisarrangement enables the requirement of high mechanical strength to bereadily satisfied while enabling the traditional and popular basicconfiguration of such playthings to be essentially maintained.

According to the invention, the peripheral part may conveniently beconstructed to exert an inwardly acting force against the central part,so as to support said part and exert an integrating or binding forcethereon. The central part and the peripheral part of the toy mayconveniently be interlocked mechanically in the axial direction, forinstance by means of an all-round groove in one part that receives aridge or projection on the other part.

The central part may typically be made of wood, so as to givetraditional expression to the toy or plaything, while the outer,surrounding part may conveniently be made of a tough plastic material,and both parts may be made in harmonizing and attractive colors. Thecentral part of the toy may be lacquered or glazed in a manner to showor set off the grains in the wood. The central part of the toy ispreferably rotationally symmetrical about a center axis that extendsgenerally parallel with the grain of the wood. This shape can be easilyachieved in a wood lathe, and splintering of the wood is effectivelyprevented by virtue of the central part being held together by theforces exerted thereon by the peripheral part at right angles to thegrain of the wood.

The peripheral part conveniently includes an axially angled collar whichembraces the outermost radial region of the central part while exertinga radially inwardly acting pressure thereon. This protects the centralpart in a favorable manner. In order to impart favorable firmness orstability to the peripheral part of the toy and also to hide the collar,which is beneficial from the aspect of appearance, the collar mayconveniently extend downwards in relation to the peripheral part of thetoy.

In the manufacture of a bell-like toy or plaything, it is suitable toensure that the central part has a paraboloidal shape and is terminatedat its bottom by a transverse surface, the central part being embracedin its bottom region by a skirt-like peripheral part whose collar, whichlies against the central part under pressure, reaches at least down tothe transverse terminating surface on the central part. This effectivelyobviates the risk of portions of the central part splitting at theabrupt transition between the mantle surface thereof and its transverseterminating surface.

In order to ensure that a baby or infant will be unable to swallow thecentral part in the unlikely event of the central part loosening fromthe peripheral part despite the safe design of the inventive toy, itwill preferably be seen that the central part has a largest transversemeasurement of at least 32 mm.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will now be described in more detail with reference to theaccompanying drawings, which illustrate exemplary embodiments ofdifferent toy components and in which

FIG. 1 is a perspective illustration of an inventive toy or plaything;

FIG. 2 is a side view of a first component of the toy composition shownin FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows the component in FIG. 2 from beneath;

FIG. 4 is a sectioned view of the first component, taken on the lineIV--IV in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 illustrates the peripheral part of the component shown in FIG. 4in larger scale;

FIG. 6 is a side view of a second component of the toy composition shownin FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 shows the component in FIG. 6 from beneath;

FIG. 8 is an axial sectional view of the second component;

FIG. 9 is an axial sectioned view of solely the central part of thesecond component; and

FIG. 10 is an enlarged axial sectioned view of solely the peripheralpart of the second component.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Those components of the toy that find correspondence in the variousillustrations have been identified with the same reference signs.

The toy illustrated in FIG. 1 includes two types of components, namely aso-called roof 1 and three bell-like components 2 that hang from theroof 1 on lines 3. As indicated, the roof 1 is, in turn, intended to besuspended from a line or corresponding device stretched between twosides of a baby carriage hood or two sides of a cot (not shown).

The roof 1 is comprised of a separate, central part 5 and a separateperipheral part 6 which embraces the central part 5 and has a thinnermaterial thickness than the central part 5. The peripheral part 6 isjoined to the central part 5 and is made of a tougher material than thecentral part 5. The central part is preferably comprised of wood and theperipheral part 6 of an impact resistant or tough plastic material.Correspondingly, the bell-like components 2 each consists of a centralpart 7, suitably made of wood, and a part 8 connected to the centralpart 7, which is suitably made of tough, impact-resistant plastic andhas a comparatively small thickness.

The central parts 5 and 7 have a largest size of at least 32 mm incross-section so that said parts will be too large to pass down into thepharynx or windpipe of a baby. In the illustrated embodiment, thecentral parts 5 and 7 are rotationally symmetrical about a respectiveaxis 9 and 10 and can have been machined from wood on a lathe, it beingensured that the grain of the wood extends parallel with the associatedsymmetry axis.

As will be evident from FIGS. 1-4, the central part 5 of the roof 1 hasan essentially spherical shape, although the sides of said part havebeen planed to an outer cylindrical shape in the abutment region 11 withthe peripheral part 6 (FIG. 4). In its position of use, the central part5 has a vertical through-penetrating bore 12 which has a widened region13 for accommodating and fixing a knot tied on the bottom of the line 4.A plug or stopper 14 is fixed in the bottom part of the widened region13 and, in turn, includes a bore 15 through which there can be passed aline (not shown) for carrying a further component of the toy orplaything, for instance a teething ring or the like.

The peripheral part 6 of the illustrated embodiment has the generalshape of a three-leaf clover and has a central opening that accommodatesthe central part 5. This opening is surrounded by a downwardly extendingcollar 16 which is formed in the part 6 and which can convergedownwardly in the manner shown in FIG. 5 so that after being fitted onthe part 5 from beneath, the collar will exert pressure on the centralpart in the region 11. Provided on the inner surface of the collar is acircumferentially extending ridge-shaped projection 17 which is intendedto be received in a circumferentially extending groove 18 in the part 5,so as to mechanically lock the parts 5 and 6 together. The peripheralpart 6 will preferably have a relatively thin wall and downwardly curvededges.

The peripheral part 6 includes three thickened portions 19 in whichthrough-penetrating bores 20 are provided for the lines 3 shown in FIG.1, said lines being knotted at their upper ends and received in an upperwidened part of associated bores 20 in a known manner.

The bell-like components 2 of the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 6-10have a generally paraboloidal central part 7 that includes an axiallythrough-penetrating bore 21 and a flat transverse underside 22. The bore21 includes a widened intermediate part for accommodating a knot on thebottom end of an associated line 3, and a further widened bottom partfor receiving a closure plug or stopper (not shown). The peripheral part8 has the form of an outwardly and downwardly extending skirt ofcircular cross-section and relatively small material thickness. Providedon the inside of the skirt part 8 is a downwardly facing collar 23. Theradially outermost region 24 of the part 7 includes a circumferentiallyextending groove 25 which is intended to receive an upper, radiallyinwardly facing and circumferentially extending portion 26 of the part8. When fitting the part 8 to the part 7 from above, a radial edge 27will snap-in behind a corresponding edge in the groove 25 so as tomechanically interlock the parts 7, 8. The dimensions of the upperportion 26 of part 8 and the collar 23 in relation to the outermostregion 24 of part 7 is such that the collar 23 will lie against theregion 24 and extend slightly beneath the surface 22 subsequent toassembling the parts 7, 8, such that part 8 is prevented from furtherdownward movement in relation to part 7.

It will be understood that the invention is not restricted to thedescribed and illustrated exemplifying embodiments thereof and can beimplemented in any desired manner within the scope of the inventiveconcept as defined in the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A toy suitable for a baby that includes at leastone component that has a central part and a peripheral part whichsurrounds the central part and has a small thickness in comparison withsaid central part, said peripheral part embracing said central part andbeing connected thereto and comprised of a plastic material which istougher than a wood from which the central part is made, a bottom regionof said central part including a peripheral groove that accommodates aradially and inwardly directed projection on an inner surface of saidperipheral part such that said peripheral part embraces the bottomregion of said central part.
 2. The toy according to claim 1, whereinthe peripheral part embraces the central part while exerting an inwardlyacting pressure thereon.
 3. The toy according to claim 1, wherein thecentral part and the peripheral part are interlocked mechanically in anaxial direction.
 4. The toy according to claim 1, wherein the centralpart is rotationally symmetrical about an axis that extends generallyparallel with a grain of the wood.
 5. The toy according to claim 1,wherein the peripheral part includes a generally axially angled collarwhich surrounds a radially outermost region of the central part whileexerting radially and inwardly acting pressure thereon.
 6. The toyaccording to claim 5, wherein the collar extends downward in relation tothe peripheral part and includes a radially and inwardly directedprojection on an inner surface thereof for engagement with saidperipheral groove in said central part.
 7. The toy according to claim 1,wherein the central part has a generally paraboloidal shape and isterminated at its bottom by a transverse surface, the peripheral parthaving a skirt-like shape and reaching at least down to said transverseterminating surface on the central part.
 8. A toy that includes acentral part and a peripheral part which embraces said central part andhas a small thickness in comparison with said central part and isconnected thereto and comprised of a plastic material which is tougherthan a wood from which said central part is made, said central partbeing rotationally symmetrical about an axis that extends generallyparallel with a grain of the wood, said peripheral part including agenerally axially angled collar which surrounds a radially outermostregion of said central part while exerting radially and inwardly actingpressure thereon, said collar extending downward in relation to saidperipheral part, and said central part including a peripheral groovethat accommodates at least one radially and inwardly directed projectionon an inner surface of at least one of the collar and the peripheralpart.
 9. The toy according to claim 8, wherein the central part has agenerally paraboloidal shape and is terminated at its bottom by atransverse surface, a bottom region of the central part being surroundedby a skirt-like peripheral part whose collar in pressing engagement withthe central part reaches at least down to said transverse terminatingsurface on the central part.
 10. The toy according to claim 9, whereinthe central part has a largest cross-sectional size of at least 32 mm.11. A toy suitable for a baby that includes a central part and askirt-like peripheral part in pressing engagement with a bottom regionof said central part, said peripheral part having a small thickness incomparison with said central part and being connected thereto andcomprised of a material which is tougher than a material from which saidcentral part is made, said central part having a generally paraboloidalshape and being terminated at its bottom by a transverse surface,wherein said skirt-like peripheral part reaches at least down to saidtransverse terminating surface on the central part.
 12. The toyaccording to claim 11, wherein said peripheral part includes a generallyaxially angled collar which surrounds a radially outermost region ofsaid central part while exerting radially and inwardly acting pressurethereon.
 13. The toy according to claim 12, wherein the central partincludes a peripheral groove that accommodates a radially and inwardlydirected projection on an inner surface of at least one of the collarand said peripheral part.
 14. The toy according to claim 11, whereinsaid central part is made of wood and said peripheral part is made of atough plastic material.
 15. The toy according to claim 11, wherein saidcentral part at a largest point has a cross-sectional size of at least32 mm.